All things that kick ass!

Tag Archives: ribs

How I love the kick off to a long-awaited holiday season, especially when it falls on a weekend. Oftentimes as a kid, I had multiple costumes for different Halloween parties (the horror of wearing the same thing twice), so I followed my own tradition and mixed it up this year.

Stay Puft Marshmallow man mania!

My costume was so on point that the TV show The Goldbergs tried to bring back the beloved ’80s Ghostbusters characters only to fail.

Suck it Goldbergs!

As you can see, our group dominated this category. And we did our own costuming.

Ghostbusters done right.

Another Halloween scene called for more comfortable attire, as my crew was going to see a show and I didn’t really want to sweat (let’s be real, I don’t sweat, I glisten) to death (plus, I wanted to pee and the Stay Puft outfit makes you hold it for however long you’re wearing it).

Lenny Kravitz, Alice Cooper and Kid Rock.

Not to be left out, my fave little chug (chihuahua + pug mix) Precious was an adorable little ladybug.

Most precious lady beetle ever.

Those Iowa twins of mine? They’re obsessed with Star Wars (as all kids I know have been except yours truly…I still don’t get it but whatever).

Seeing how excited the twins were over their costumes, I decided Ted and I would stay in the same family of sorts and dress up as galaxy characters as well.

October 31st happened to not only be the day of candy collecting but also a game day for my beloved Iowa Hawkeyes, who have yet to lose a game and are ranked #10 in the nation (yeah, that’s right!). My team was geared up to keep their record pristine against the Maryland Terps (turtles, in case you didn’t know what a terp was because I didn’t know).

Now one of my blogging besties, Mark Bialczak is a fellow Big Ten fan, who cheers on his Maryland Terps. Last year, we had a bet that whomever’s team lost must be featured on the winner’s blog and ….. here he is in all of his loser glory this year!

Friday started with Miller Lite for Camo and Captain for me as I stopped for a quick happy hour at my fave Nashville watering hole, Dalts.

Drive by drink.

I only stayed for a few Skinny Pirates, as I’d been bit by the Halloween bug (yes, I know it’s still September and no, I don’t really give a shit). It was mass chaos as I felt the need to unload every single piece of Halloween decor I owned before even attempting to decorate (maybe six a few Skinny Pirates and holiday embellishment don’t mix).

Don’t drink and decorate.

While I kept sipping on my Captain, my two fraidy cats felt the need to inspect the nooks and crannies of every box and bin.

Expert Halloween helpers.

I decided to wave the white flag in Halloween adornment surrender as the wee hours of Saturday morning were fast approaching and I was reminded by my nephew, Prince B what awaited me the following morning.

Iowa Hawkeye game day!

I headed out to game watch with my folks, where we nervously hoped for touchdowns in order to squeeze our moonshine tradition into Saturday.

Hawks score!

Moonshine mania posers.

This special spirit ever ceases to amaze me.

There’s no better accompaniment to moonshine than my dad’s ribs (his “best batch ever” is a phrase uttered each time he prepares them) and they didn’t disappoint this weekend.

Ribs ‘n’ shine.

While I couldn’t stuff my face with ribs any faster than a competitive eater, my niece was busy discovering her favorite flavor of salad dressing.

Getting together with friends last night to watch the BCS Championship football game between Alabama and Notre Dame started out promising (I mean for all of 10 seconds the score was 0-0). While not really invested in either team, I was rooting for the Irish of Notre Dame – not only because they were the under dogs and had an undefeated regular season but they wear gold helmets so shiny, and I really want one to polish.

But my team of the evening ended up sucking. Like super sucking. So here’s how us Notre Dame cheerleaders carried on anyhow.

Once the opposing team is two scores up, start double fisting immediately.

Two cups were needed for misery’s sake because misery does love company.

To keep yourself from falling into the negative we’ll-never-comeback-from-this point deficit, visit the food table about every four minutes. I brought my blogfamous Pigskin Sushi (gluten-free, low carb and EASY) to the party.

Be sure someone has special gloves to massage the BBQ sauce into the pork butt. Our Notre Dame cheering host was a natural at this task.

Using ‘butt’ gloves(imagine all of the jokes) to massage BBQ sauce into the meat.

After stuffing your face because your team is down 28 points before halftime, drink a bottle of chocolate wine for dessert.

Yes, it’s as good as it sounds but my wine connoisseur friends (like The Winegetter) may disagree.

You will need some hard-core soothing, so join your friends when they suggest a shot (or three).

A little salt makes the tequila go down…for me.

The choice of liquor was my friend Lady’s idea yet look at her face in the picture below as she SIPS while I guzzle flawlessly (yes, my parents are beyond proud of me).

Pro vs. Amateur

Be prepared to have your own halftime entertainment because your ears will be bleeding with all of the commentator analyzing (why don’t they just say “this team sucks” instead of pretending there’s a chance in hell for a second half comeback?). We amused ourselves with acupuncture. My friend CoCo gets this done regularly and had a sterile needle in her purse (yes, us Irish were desperate for a distraction).

Acupuncture to the rescue!

Such a tiny needle to relieve so much stress.

I felt nothing…due to the teeny tiny needle or because of the teeny tiny tequila ?

After halftime, get your phone out and start Googling players from the opposing team. I settled on Alabama QB, AJ McCarron (who looked like Snow White last night with rosy red lips – I seriously thought he had lipstick on. They must have been chapped from kissing his smokin’ hot girlfriend).

Bored with the game, look how much fun Googling can be! AJ McCarron and his surprising chest of tatted armour.

Be prepared for your host to be a fair-weathered fan. After Notre Dame was taking a gigantic beating, our host came out in his Alabama finest.

Breaking it down in red. Traitor!

You must make your host pay for his lack of commitment to one team. In this case, it was tequila.

Punishment fits the crime, yes?

Be sure to pack tissues when half of the room starts looking like this…

Is that a real tear in a beer?

And you must be willing to cheer them up with – what else? Tequila.

Try to pour tequila out of a snazzy Falcon Crest-like decanter. It will make losers feel a little fancy.

Typically you should take a shot every time your team scores. In our case, we ended up doing one big sympathy shot for a tremendous loss at the close of the game.

Tears and tequila.

And this is how you get through the viewing party while the team you’re rooting for is handed their own ass.